Thursday, July 07, 2011

Just How Is It That Republicans Get To Lecture Democrats About Ballooning Federal Deficits?

This sneering, preening performance by the new Republican National
Committee chairman, Reince Priebus, yesterday on Fox News really set me
off, for some reason. As you can see, it's all about blaming Democrats
for the state of the economy, insisting that they are somehow
responsible for the ballooning federal deficit and the need to raise the
debt ceiling. That's the thrust of the RNC's latest round of
Obama-bashing ads.

You certainly can't say they lack for chutzpah.

Look, this meme has been building ever since the Tea Partiers started
raging about the deficit and the debt, and now it's the official
Republican talking point. It all makes me want to ask: Where do you guys get the balls to lecture Democrats about deficit spending and the state of the economy?

That surplus disappeared the first year George W. Bush was in office,
even before the 9/11 attacks happened, in no small part because Bush
began slashing taxes for the wealthy immediately upon taking office. And
then he and his Republican allies running the Congress proceeded to
ring up the deficit to unheard-of heights, thanks largely to a needless
invasion of another nation under false pretenses.

Where were all these Republicans in the years 2001-2006, when they
were setting new records for federal deficits and destroying the economy
along the way?

And then blaming Obama and the Democrats for lost jobs really takes
the cake. It's undoubtedly true that Obama's policies have not restored
jobs in anything near an adequate fashion. But those millions of jobs
were destroyed on Republicans' economic watch, as a result of Republican
economic policies.

Fixing the economy is indeed a much bigger uphill climb than the
Pollyannas on the White House economic team reckoned. But Republicans
have done nothing but make it harder, by obstructing every Democratic
initiative to stimulate the economy and improve our economic
competitiveness (which was what the health-care debate was largely
about), not to mention the employment picture generally.

Sara Robinson has worked as an editor or columnist for several national magazines, on beats as varied as sports, travel, and the Olympics; and has contributed to over 80 computer games for EA, Lucasfilm, Disney, and many other companies. A native of California's High Sierra, she spent 20 years in Silicon Valley before moving to Vancouver, BC in 2004. She currently is pursuing an MS in Futures Studies at the University of Houston. You can reach her at srobinson@enginesofmischief.com.